


"N-Something H-Something"

by hfleury



Series: Sign My Body (Soulmate AUs) [1]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Carolina Hurricanes, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-04-23 20:45:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14340567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hfleury/pseuds/hfleury
Summary: Haydn’s hand slid carefully under the band of his pants as he laid in bed, his fingers grazing over the signature on his right hip. He’d been born with it, so tracing over the mark was a second nature. It was just a jumble of lines and squiggles, yet it was the most important thing in Haydn’s life: the signature of his soulmate. After twenty-one years of examining it, Haydn still couldn’t quite make out the name.Noah had been dreaming of this day since he was a child. “H” was the only letter that he could make out on his right hip, and it was what he and his family had been calling his soulmate since he was old enough to know what it was. All night, he had been on the phone with his parents, making a plan of attack. “The first thing I’m going to do is tell them to get better handwriting.”





	1. Chapter 1

Haydn’s hand slid carefully under the band of his pants as he laid in bed; he always ended up in this position when he was nervous. His fingers grazed over the signature on his right hip. He’d been born with it, so tracing over the mark was a second nature. It was just a jumble of lines and squiggles, yet it was the most important thing in Haydn’s life: the signature of his soulmate. After twenty-one years of examining it, Haydn still couldn’t quite make out the name. The first name clearly started with an “N” and the last with an “H” with two “I”s on either side of what could have either been a “G” or a “F”, maybe even a “J”. Under the name there was a series of numbers.

 

08.24.17

 

Those numbers signified the date that he was going to meet his soulmate. That day was today. When was he going to meet them? How? He had so many questions, none of which could be answered. He had been up all night trying to mentally prepare himself for the day but he only managed to make himself more nervous. _What if they don’t like me?_

_Bzzzz_

His phone vibrated violently. “Hello?” he answered softly.

“I’m outside when you’re ready. Hurry up,” Brett’s voice rang out from the other end.

“Be down in a second,” he said, hanging up. Quickly, Haydn grabbed his equipment bag and headed downstairs. As promised, Brett was parked in front of the building, tapping impatiently on his steering wheel. Haydn tossed his bag in the back seat and climbed into the car. They rode in an awkward silence for most of the drive, Haydn bouncing his leg and picking at his fingers.

“You okay, dude? You seen really on-edge,” Brett piped up as they approached the arena.

“Yeah. I’m good. I mean, I’m not, but I’ll fake it,” Haydn said with a forced smile.

“Nervous about practice?” 

“Nah,” Haydn shrugged. “It’s the first one with the full team but it should be fine. Today is just,” he winced. He really needed to tell someone, and Brett was here, so why not? Although everyone on Earth had one, it was considered taboo to talk about your mark. He hadn’t even talked to his parents about it. Keeping his feelings about the mark built up inside for so long had been torture, but then again, that’s what everyone did. Haydn let out another sigh. “Today’s my day.”

“Really?” Brett let the concept simmer for a few seconds before continuing. “That’s great, dude.” He placed a hand on Haydn’s shoulder and shook him a bit with a smile. “Do your parents know?” Haydn shook his head.

“We haven’t talked about it since they told me what it was.”

“That sucks,” Brett said loudly, cutting him off. “Sorry. I just think it’s so _fucking_ stupid that people don’t talk about it. Everyone has one, so why the hell is it weird to openly talk about them?”

“Yeah,” Haydn said quietly. He agreed, but his mind was too full to gather a coherent thought. 

“Do you know who it is?” Brett asked as they approached the Arena’s driveway. Haydn shook his head again. 

“Can’t read it,” he gestured to his hip. “N-something H-something.” Brett nodded.

“Me too,” he lifted his shoulder and used his ear to point out his signature, which was barely visible under his shirt. “I can’t even make out the first letter.” he shrugged. “I’ll find out eventually.” They pulled into the parking lot, parked, and grabbed their bags.

“Thanks for the ride,” Haydn said as they walked together into the arena.

“No problem.” Brett gave Haydn one more pat on the shoulder. “Good luck today. Don’t let it stress you out too much.” With that, they were at the locker room. Haydn gave him a small nod of appreciation as they went to their respective benches and began getting into their equipment. A majority of the team was already there and dressed, sitting in their areas and talking to the people around them. Haydn couldn’t help but look around at the others while he slid into his pants. Across the room he saw Phil and Brock, who he had played in Charlotte with for several seasons, having a conversation. They had no idea what today meant for him; no one did. As he pulled his practice jersey over his pads, Haydn noticed someone out of the corner of his eye. It was Noah, pulling his jersey over his head. He wasn’t directly facing him, but Haydn could still make out a dark marking on their right hip. It looked like a “H” followed by a series of squiggles.

It looked like his signature.

All of the pigment left his face at once, leaving wide eyes and a blank expression. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind, that was _definitely_ his signature.

“You okay, man?” Justin asked, noticing Haydn’s expression. “Why are you looking at Hanifin like that?”

“I’m,” Haydn started. He couldn’t finish, he was too in shock. All he could manage a small “ _Yeah, sorry”_ , which seemed to be enough for Justin, who turned back to lacing his skates.

 _Noah Hanifin. N-something H-something_.

Running drills was nearly impossible, especially now that he knew his soulmate was watching. This was the first time they were having a full group at practice and Haydn was making a fool of himself, missing every shot, pass, and check he attempted to make. He knew that he looked distracted he couldn’t care less.

“How are you holding up?” Brett asked, skating over towards the end of practice. Haydn shook his head.

“Not great, I feel like I’m going to pass out,” he leaned in closer, making sure that no one else could hear them. “It’s Noah.” Brett cracked a smile.

“You think Hanifin is your soulmate?”

“‘N’ ‘H’. Noah Hanifin. I saw his mark when we were changing too. It’s for sure my signature”

“If you’re sure.” Brett shrugged.  “You going to talk to him?”

“No way.” Haydn started to skate away, but Brett grabbed the back of his jersey and pulled him back.

“Let me rephrase that,” Brett said, pulling Haydn into the boards. “You _need_ to go talk to him.”

“What if he doesn’t like me?” Haydn asked, once again leaning into Brett’s ear. “What if he completely rejects it?” He turned for a brief second to look at Noah, who was taking shots on an empty net.

“If you’re really his soulmate there’s no way he’ll reject you.” Brett said in a harsh tone. “If you don’t tell him now, there’s no telling what will happen.”

“Maybe I’ll just wait until we get to know each other a little bit. Like, let him get a chance to know me.”

“Do what you need to do.” Brett shrugged as a whistle rang out from the other side of the ice. Everyone skated to the center where the coaches wrapped up practice and sent everyone to the locker room. The entire time Haydn’s eyes were fixed on Noah, who seemed to be laser focused on what the coaches were saying. He looked calm and collected. _Maybe it’s not him. Wouldn’t he be more nervous if today was his day?_

* * *

Going out onto the ice was practically torture. Noah was suppose to meet his soulmate today, and he was stuck at practice for the next two hours.

He had been dreaming of this day since he was a child. All night, he had been on the phone with his parents, planning out what he was going to do when he saw whoever his soulmate was. “The first thing I’m going to do is tell them to get better handwriting,” he joked. “Then, I guess we’ll see what happens. I don’t want to make this huge, elaborate plan before I know that they’re interested in me.”

“Of course they’ll be interested in you, sweetheart. They are your soulmate, after all,I’m sure whoever this ‘H’ is will be a wonderful person and will love you just as much as we do,” his mother reassure him. “H” was the only letter that he could make out on his right hip, and what he and his family had been calling his soulmate since he was old enough to know what it was. At the end of the night, he decided on going to go to every bar, club, supermarket, and park he could until he found who he was looking for. After saying goodbye and hanging up on his parents he spent the rest of the night lying quietly in bed, finally passing out around four o’clock in the morning.

He spent the entirety of practice in a trance, going through the drills until the group was dismissed. He tried to act as normal as possible; he didn’t need anyone on the team knowing about his personal life, or at least, not this part of it. After practically running into the locker room he started taking off his equipment as quickly as he could without looking like he was in a hurry. 

“Hanifin,” Brett leaned over to him as he untied his skates. “You should talk to Fleury. Today.”

“Why?” Noah asked. He and Haydn had hardly ever spoken and today was definitely not the day to start.

“Just do it. Sooner rather than later,” Brett said, tossing his jersey to the cart and heading towards the shower.

“Fine, whatever,” Noah mumbled, pushing himself off of the bench. He made his way over to Haydn, who was in the middle of taking off his gear. His eyes seemed to be looking everywhere but in Noah’s direction.

“Hey, man,” Noah said, taking a seat next to Haydn while he undressed. “Brett said I should come talk to you, not really sure why.”

“I have an idea.” Haydn glared at Brett as he began to pull off his Under Armour. Noah couldn’t help but look over every inch of his body. He had stunningly blue eyes and several small brown freckles scattered over his face, neck, chest, and abdomen. Physically, Noah thought, he was perfect. His eyes lingered for a second on a few dark lines on his hip peeking out from under his gear. “It can wait until later though, or at least when we’re not surrounded by people.” Noah was becoming more and more confused. He didn’t have time for this; he needed to be out looking for his soulmate, not here talking to some rookie.

“Okay, yeah. Sure. I’ll meet you in the parking lot. Just make it quick.” Noah quickly returned to his bench to finish getting out of his gear. _What the fuck could he possibly want?_

* * *

“You take forever, dude,” Noah said leaning against his car. “I thought I told you to be quick.”

“Yeah. Sorry to keep you waiting for so long.” Haydn adjusted his bag. He had taken a few extra minutes in the shower in an effort to look presentable. This definitely wasn’t the ideal way to tell him, but then again, what was?

“I just, well,” he didn’t know how to say it. “I think I have your name on my body.” He couldn’t get himself to look Noah in the eyes. “Well it’s been there for a while, I just figured out it was you today.”

“How the _hell_ did you come to that conclusion?” Noah snorted. “Not to sound rude, but I doubt it. I mean, what are the chances that we’d be soulmates _and_ be on the same team?”

“Yeah. I guess you’re right.” Haydn averted his eyes to the ground as he set down his bag. “Can you just look at it though, just to be safe?” 

Noah shrugged. “Sure, whatever.” Haydn parted his clothes just enough for the signature to be exposed. Noah’s eyes jumped over the dark lettering several times over before they met Haydn’s. The both stood in silence. Noah was trying to form his mouth into words, but nothing would come out. They stood there, together, for what seemed like hours. 

It was his signature.

Noah’s mind was racing, no thought staying for more than a split second.

“I’m sorry. I’m sure this is disappointing for you.” Haydn broke the silence, hanging his head as he let his shirt fall back over the mark. “I just thought you would want to know.” He grabbed his bag from the ground and started towards Brett’s car. “We can just ignore it-” He was cut off by the warmth of Noah’s lips against his own. He moved hands up to Haydn’s face, gently cupping his cheeks. It felt _so right_ , but Haydn couldn’t get himself to close his eyes. He just stood there as Noah kissed him, not daring to move. When he finally pulled away there were clearly tears forming in Noah’s eyes.

Noah closed his eyes, resting his forehead against Haydn’s.“Why would I be disappointed?”


	2. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little epilogue that I decided to keep out of the original for some reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed that little blurb! It's super short and I have no idea why I decided to keep it out of the original post. Anyways, my tumblr is @haydnflury if you ever what to shoot me a prompt or ask me questions about any of my works, feel free

Three months had passed since that day. Haydn had been moved from Charlotte to Raleigh and back again, but Noah had always been there for him. While he was in Charlotte, they talked for hours on end over the phone, only breaking to go to games or practices. At night they would Skype each other in bed, leaving the application open even after the other fell asleep so they could wake up together the next morning. 

In Raleigh, they did everything together. Wherever one was, the other was sure to be close behind.

“You’re perfect, you know that?” Noah told Haydn one night as they were laying in bed together. He slipped his hand under the band of Haydn’s sweatpants just enough to run his fingers across his signature. Haydn blushed as he buried his face in Noah’s shoulder.

“No, you’re perfect.” He planted a series of short kisses on Noah’s arm. This kind of affection was a daily occurrence, even in the locker room. Everyone on the team was sick of it, but they didn’t care. They were happy together and that’s all that mattered.

“I love you.” Noah whispered, leaning his head against Haydn’s.

“I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> back at it again with this pairing no one knows about :)
> 
> I really hope you enjoyed it! I'm planning on writing more of these little one-shots, the next will probably be Mitch/Auston or McStrome. Let me know on tumblr (@morganrlly [during playoffs] or @calefleury depending on when you're reading this) what other pairings you'd like to see!


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